main content Shortlands Air Raid Wardens Memorial

Queen Anne Avenue, Shortlands, Kent

On the evening of Wednesday, 4th December 1940, during an enemy air raid a direct hit was received on the Air Rail Warden Post in the grounds of St. Marks School. At the time the two wardens on duty in the post were Mrs Gladys Muriel Blinkhorn-Hay aged 48 and Leslie Frederick Hurst aged 37, both of whom were killed instantly. A third warden, who was standing outside the post, survived although he suffered many injuries having been covered up to his shoulders in debris from the warden`s post, school and adjoining houses.

The funeral took place at St. Mary`s Shortlands, the Parish Church (soon also to be a victim of bombing) on Friday 13th December 1940, with the Mayor of Beckenham, Town Clerk, Councillors and other local dignities in attendance. The burial was in nearby Elmers End Cemetery.

Beckenham Borough Council purchased the land on which the warden`s post had been sited and had it planted as a lasting memorial.

A small metal Plaque erected on the site reads:

"THIS LAND WAS ACQUIRED AND HAS BEEN PLANTED BY THE COUNCIL AS AN AMENITY TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY OR DAMAGE THE SHRUBS ETC., OR THROW ANY SORT OF RUBBISH ON THE LAND: RATHER HELP KEEP IT TIDY.
THIS IS A PLACE OF WAR-TIME MEMORIES, SAD BUT PROUD, OF LIVES LOST IN LOYAL SERVICE AND OF DEVOTION TO DUTY."

The memorial is a tribute to the loyal service of all the Air Raid Wardens who served their local communities unstintingly, and paid the supreme sacrifice.

It is still in the care of the local Council, now the London Borough of Bromley and the plaque has recently been mounted on a stone plinth.